Gideon's Heart
by Scribbles-by-Kate
Summary: Belle discovers something alarming about Gideon and she and Rumple try to get an unyielding Emma to see reason. Post "Mother's Little Helper". RumBelle. Anti-Emma and anti-Snow. One shot.


Belle put the books back on the shelf methodically. She was just doing busy work, trying to keep her mind off what had happened last night, but it wasn't working. All she could think of was Gideon and what he'd done, what it meant. Rumple was convinced they could still save him, that he wasn't evil, and she had to hold onto that, because losing Gideon to darkness was not to be thought of: she couldn't bear it.

A noise above her head caught her attention. Sometimes, she could hear the clanging of the pipes when she was alone here, but this was not that. Nor was it the elevator moving. This was the sound of someone moving around. Someone was in the clock tower.

As quietly as she could, she made her way up the stairs, walking on her toes so her heels wouldn't clatter against the steps. The movement had stopped, so whoever was up here was still now.

Rounding the corner, coming up the last step, she saw her son. She smiled tenderly. He had a book in his hand, the book she'd sent him away with, and he was reading it. She watched him for a long moment, but watching wasn't enough: she had to speak to him.

'Gideon,' she whispered.

He looked up, his expression changing. He had looked peaceful while he was reading; now he looked…tormented.

'You kept it, all this time?' she asked, gesturing to the book, smiling.

'Mother,' he greeted. He looked at the book. 'Yes.' He couldn't look at her.

'Gideon?' she asked gently. She reached out to touch him, but he flinched away. 'Son,' she breathed, hurt.

'Don't, Mother,' he said harshly, 'I'm not…'

'Not what?' she asked. 'You can tell me anything, darling,' she said softly. She made to touch him again, but he moved away.

'I'm not good like you: I can never be good like you. I can never be a hero.'

'That's not true,' she told him. 'I know the Black Fairy did terrible things to you, sweetheart, but you're safe now. We can help you, your father and I: we want to help you, Gideon. We love you.'

'You can't help me,' he said, still refusing to meet her gaze. 'I'm past help, past hope. Please, just let me go.'

'I can't,' she said, tears falling now. 'You're my son, my little boy: I can never give up on you.'

'You must,' he insisted. 'I'm not the son you deserve.'

'Gideon, don't say that.'

'It's true!' he shouted. 'Don't you understand, Mother? She won't let me go: she'll never let me go!'

She saw his face then, fully for the first time. She saw the desperate, hunted, frightened look in his eyes, but there was also a terrible emptiness there, like something was missing. And what did he mean she'd never let him go?

'What do you mean?' she asked, nearly breathless.

Gideon swallowed, frightened, and so lost it made her heart break.

'Gideon, what did she do to you?' she asked urgently. 'What did she do? There's something missing, I can tell: what is it? What did she do?'

He stared at her, shocked, alarmed. He opened his mouth. He wanted to tell her: she could see it, but he couldn't. She tried to put the pieces together, and suddenly she had a terrible inkling. No! No, no!

'Gideon!' She reached out convulsively. He drew back again.

'I'm sorry, Mother.'

'Gideon, wait!' she cried, but he was gone. 'Gideon! Gideon, come back!'

She screamed his name, sobbing at the same time, but he did not return. Panicking, she did the only thing that made sense to her to do: she called for Rumple.

Rumplestiltskin dropped the potion bottle he was holding when he heard her voice screaming his name. His heart tightened painfully when he heard it again, and he was with her before she'd even finished calling his name for the third time.

She was slumped against the wall in the clock tower, crying bitterly, desolate. Gideon: something had happened to Gideon.

'Belle,' he breathed, reaching for her.

'Rumple!' she cried, practically falling into his arms.

'What's the matter? What's happened to Gideon?'

'She took his heart,' she told him, voice trembling: 'the Black Fairy took his heart!'

He gasped. No! With his heart in her hand, she could make him do anything…

Belle sobbed, leaning into him, shaking. His heart clenched painfully again at the sound of Belle's distress, the sound of a mother crying for her child. If he could only take her pain away.

'I'm taking you out of here,' he said, because the freezing cold clock tower was no place for her now.

He took them down to the library, her place, and helped her sit in one of the chairs. He crouched before her, trying not to cry at her tears. She needed him to be strong now.

Belle gripped his hand. She felt a little calmer with him there. Not so long ago, she felt on edge around him, but that was an alien feeling, a wrong feeling. This comfort, this feeling of home was what she properly associated with Rumple. He'd know what to do to protect their son, and he'd do it, whatever it took.

'There's a dreadful emptiness in him, Rumple,' she managed to get out. 'I looked in his eyes and I saw it. She stole our baby's heart and she's making him do unspeakable things. He's tormented and scared. I know he doesn't want to do these things: I know it. He said she'd never let him go, said he was past help, past saving. Oh, Rumple, what are we going to do?'

Rumplestiltskin rubbed her arms. He didn't question what she'd told him for a moment. Belle was Gideon's mother. She'd carried him in her womb, known him from the moment he was conceived, loved him better than ever a mother loved her baby: of course he didn't question what she'd told him.

Belle remembered the look on her child's face, the emptiness in his eyes, the way he pulled away from her. He was ashamed of what the Black Fairy was making him do, ashamed because he couldn't stop it. If she'd commanded him to kill Emma, he would have no choice: he could fight it, but, ultimately, he would have to obey.

Tears slipped down her cheeks as she cried quietly. What had she done to her baby? How could she have sent him to this fate?

Rumplestiltskin nearly broke at the wail that came out of his wife's very soul. He knew exactly what she was thinking.

'What have I done?' she demanded.

' _We_ ,' he insisted: 'we both made mistakes that led us here.'

Belle shook her head. 'I sent him away.'

'To protect him from me.'

'But you didn't do anything!'

'And you couldn't have known that at the time.'

'I should have!' she cried: 'I should have known you'd never speed up my pregnancy. This is _my_ fault!'

'It is _not_ your fault, Belle,' he disagreed: 'you were reacting to some terrible behaviour from me. It was a horrible situation you were in and you did what you did for the sake of our child: I don't doubt that.'

'But look what happened to him,' she rasped out plaintively. 'He was tortured and abused for twenty-eight years, and the Black Fairy stole his heart to make him do her bidding.'

'And now that we know that, we also know that he's not to blame in this whole mess with Emma,' he said quietly.

For the first time, a spark of light flickered in Belle's eyes. She held her breath for a moment, a thought coming.

'Rumple, if she took his heart to make him compliant, then that means—'

'That he was fighting her and this was the only way she could get him to fall in line,' he finished.

She squeezed his hand. 'He _was_ strong,' she said with conviction: 'he _was_ brave. He _can_ be saved.'

'Yes, he can,' he said, smiling.

'But, Rumple, if she makes him kill Emma…'

'It won't be his fault, and if the Saviour kills him in self defence, _I_ will kill _her_.'

'But she doesn't know the Black Fairy has his heart.'

'Then we'll tell her, so that she has all the information she needs to make the right choice, and then, if she goes after our son, _she_ will be the villain.'

'I just want this to be over,' Belle whispered: 'I don't want anyone to be hurt, but… I want my baby, Rumple: I want our boy, and if anyone tries to hurt him, I'll do what I have to to protect him. I just want my baby.'

'And you'll have him,' he promised: 'I swear it, Belle.'

'Thank you,' she breathed, hugging him. 'I know I can trust you, Rumple: you're the only one I can trust.'

He held her tight. Her trust was a gift that he would not abuse this time, and it was an even more precious gift given how he'd broken her trust before, and yet she thought him worthy of trust again. She was a remarkable woman, the best he'd ever known, and he was so incredibly grateful.

He was on his knees as she sat on the edge of the chair, her arms wrapped around his neck, her knees under his arms. That was how Snow White and Emma found them when they walked through the door of the library.

Mother and daughter stared at them for a moment, before they began to feel vaguely uncomfortable at the intimacy of the moment and looked away.

'We should come back later,' Emma said to her mother.

'The library is a public place, Emma,' her mother reminded her: 'anyone can come here during opening hours. We're staying.'

'By all means,' Rumplestiltskin returned, standing up, but remaining close to Belle. 'Of course, you know that Belle is the librarian here, so she has as much right to be here as you do.'

'I didn't say she didn't,' Snow returned, glaring at him.

'And, actually, it's just as well you're here,' Rumplestiltskin went on, ignoring her glare: 'we have news about Gideon.'

'You're actually going to tell us what he's up to?' Emma asked sceptically.

'Yes, because it will affect how you're allowed to deal with him,' he answered, his tone steely.

'How I'm _allowed_ to deal with him?' she returned, her eyes widening in disbelief. 'You think you can tell me what to do, Gold?'

'Yes, I do. I can tell you what to do because Belle and I are in the right and you're in the wrong.'

'How do you figure that?' Snow demanded.

'Because my mother has Gideon's heart, which makes him an innocent victim in all of this. He's not trying to kill you of his own free will, Emma: she's forcing him into it.'

'You expect us to believe this?' Emma demanded. 'You want to protect your son: of course you'd come up with this.'

He snorted derisively. 'Expect you to believe me? Why on earth would I expect that? You've made your feelings about my trustworthiness quite clear.'

'I have every reason not to trust you!' Emma snapped.

'Yet I'm the one who saved your life last night,' he replied, ready for her, 'and helped you in the Underworld when I didn't want to be there in the first place. Anyway, I'm not asking you to take my word for it: I'm asking you to trust a mother's love for her son, Belle's bond with our child.' He put his hand on her shoulder gently.

'Belle?' Emma demanded flatly, 'what is this?'

'I talked to him,' Belle said, her voice thick from crying. 'While I was with him, I saw this desperate, tormented look in his eyes, and an awful emptiness, like something was missing. It scared me. It's there because she has his heart. I don't know how I know, but I do. He's my son: I know. He ran from me because he's ashamed of what she's making him do. This isn't his fault: none of it is. She took his heart.'

'Or he took it out himself,' Snow suggested, 'like Cora did.'

'Yeah,' Emma agreed, nodding.

'No,' Rumplestiltskin replied firmly.

'Why would he do that?' Belle asked: 'he has no reason to.'

'All due respect, you don't know him,' Emma returned coldly.

Belle gasped. That was cruel of Emma to say.

'He's our son!' she cried indignantly.

'I know my own flesh and blood,' Rumplestiltskin growled, 'and so does his mother. We are his parents: we know him better than you do.'

'Except you didn't raise him: she did,' Snow said. 'You don't know what she turned him into.'

'I don't know why I expected you to believe us,' he said quietly. 'I was naive to think the Saviour could show compassion. I'd be forgiven, though, for thinking you would, since you've shown it to your antagonists before. Hook, Regina; you even helped Hades as I recall, but when it's my son, you harden your heart. Don't let your hatred for me blind you to the fact that he needs help, Emma. If you won't help him because he's my son, do it because he's Belle's. She never did anything to hurt you: in fact, she's only ever tried to help you, even at great cost to herself.'

He spoke gently, looking at Belle, and helping her as she went to stand up. She had her hands on his arms and he held her by the elbows when she didn't step away. Truth to tell, he needed the comforting touch as much as she did, given the insensitivity and judgement they were facing.

Emma looked at Belle and then away. 'This is not about whose son he is,' she insisted.

'No?' Rumplestiltskin knew she was lying.

'No! I have every right to defend myself against a threat.'

' _Gideon_ is not the threat you should be defending against!' Rumplestiltskin retorted.

'He's the one trying to kill me!'

' _He_ does not have free will: _you_ do.'

'I'll do what I have to do to protect myself,' she declared, her tone final.

'What's happened to you, Emma?' Belle demanded, staring at her. 'This isn't the talk of a Saviour: this isn't the talk of someone with compassion, who cares about others. You used to try to help everyone, even the ones who'd hurt you or your family. What happened to you?'

'I don't have to justify myself to you,' Emma snapped.

'Yes, you do,' Rumplestiltskin disagreed: 'you do, because this is the mother of the man you're talking about killing in cold blood. This is the mother of an innocent who needs saving from a fate worse than death, and you can so callously ignore that, so callously talk about killing him in front of her? You disgust me.'

Emma gaped at him, sputtering like a caught fish.

'Let's go, Emma,' Snow said harshly: 'clearly we're wasting our time here.'

'You will not kill our son!' Belle cried, as the two of them turned away. 'If you do this, knowing that what we've told you is true, knowing that our son is an innocent victim, then _you're_ the villain, Emma: you're no better than the Black Fairy herself.'

'How dare you insult my daughter!' Snow snapped.

'You're the ones insulting my son,' Belle returned, standing her ground. 'He is not past saving, and you know it: you just don't want to accept it. We've told you the truth and you're still insisting on hurting him. Well, know this: I protected my baby from the god of the Underworld himself, and I will protect him from you too, don't you dare think I won't. I will do whatever it takes to protect him from being harmed by you hypocrites, even if it means I have to kill you myself.'

Belle's voice had become a steely growl, and no one could doubt that she meant what she said. Rumplestiltskin moved beside her and put his hand on her shoulder.

'You heard my wife,' he said quietly: 'if you go after our son, we will stop you, by any means necessary, and we will be justified, because our son is innocent, but if you hurt him knowing that he has no control over what he's doing, you won't be. I'd think long and hard about your next move, because what you do now will tell whether you're really heroes or not.'

'We don't need a lecture about heroism from the Dark One,' Snow said cuttingly. 'Let's go, Emma.' She caught her daughter by the arm and they turned away.

'Funny,' Belle said to their retreating backs, 'it seems to me that Rumple, for all he's the Dark One, knows more about heroism than the so-called heroes do. Heroism is about compassion, forgiveness, things you're not showing a lot of lately. It's not too late for us to save Gideon, and we will save him, but it may be too late to save your reputations as heroes when all of this is over.'

Snow and Emma halted midstep. Mother and daughter looked at each other hesitatingly, but they didn't turn around. After a moment, Snow led the way out of the library and Emma followed in silence.

'How can they be so hateful and unyielding?' Belle wondered, turning into Rumple's arms.

'Because their hearts aren't as big as yours,' Rumplestiltskin remarked quietly, holding her.

She looked up at him, an open, soft look.

'Or yours,' she said, hugging him again.

He held her tight, burying his face in her hair, remembering what she'd said about his understanding of heroism just now. 'You beautiful soul,' he whispered, 'after all I've done to you…'

'I've hurt you too,' she said tearfully, pulling back a little. 'I'm sorry, Rumple: I truly am.'

'I'm sorry too,' he said, cupping her cheek gently. 'The important thing now is to work together to save our son.'

'Yes,' she agreed, putting her hand over his. 'I know what I said, and I stand by it: I'm ready to do whatever's necessary to protect our son, from them and the Black Fairy, but I-I don't want anyone to die,' she confessed. 'That has to be a last resort, Rumple: there _must_ be other ways.' She did not relish the idea of anyone being harmed. If it came to it after they'd tried every other way, so be it, but she hoped it wouldn't come to it.

'Don't worry, Belle,' he soothed, 'I don't want any bloodshed either. I want to resolve this peacefully if we can. They can talk about killing our son, but we have to be better than that now, for Gideon.' He was determined to try her way: he wanted to try her way for as long as they possibly could. Then, if it came to it and there was blood to be shed, he would be the one shedding it: he would not let Belle or Gideon touch the darkness, never.

Belle smiled tenderly, admiringly up at him. 'I always knew there was a hero in you,' she whispered.

He pulled her to him. 'You make me stronger,' he said softly: 'you always have.'

'We're stronger together,' she said with conviction.

'Strong enough to protect our son from Emma and then take on the real threat.'

'The Black Fairy.'

'The Black Fairy,' he agreed. 'A battle is coming, Belle, whether we want it or not.'

'I know,' she said, 'but we can fight it together, and we'll win, because we're right.'

'Yes,' he agreed, stroking her cheek, 'we are. Now, let's go save our son.'

She nodded. 'Let's.'

 **The end**


End file.
